Two Syrian hospitals hit in ‘Russian air strikes’ days after ceasefire, killing at least 24

Russia has been accused of being behind the air strikes (Picture: REUTERS)

Just days after world powers agreed to the cessation of hostilities in Syria, two hospitals have been hit in air strikes accused of being fired by Russian planes, killing at least 23 people.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights initially said this morning nine people, including a child, have been killed in the air strike on a north Syrian children’s hospital and school in Azaz, a rebel-held town near the Turkish border. Now reports suggest at least 14 people have died.

Minutes later, a second hospital in Maarat al-Numan backed by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders was hit. MSF, who said nine people were killed and eight of their staff members were still missing, said the hospital was ‘deliberately’ targeted.

MSF called the attack ‘deliberate’. ‘We condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms’ (Picture: REUTERS)

‘This appears to be a deliberate attack on a health structure, and we condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms,’ MSF’s head of mission in Syria, Massimiliano Rebaudengo, said.

‘The destruction of the hospital leaves the local population of around 40,000 people without access to medical services in an active zone of conflict.’

Turkey said responsibility for attacks lay with Russia, who had argued that the ceasefires agreed to last week did not include air strikes. Ahmet Davutoglu said Russia was acting as a ‘terrorist organisation’.